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Back The Actresses Save as PDF
Chapters (51)
  1. Cover
  2. THE ACTRESSES
  3. About The Actresses
  4. Contents
  5. Dedication
  6. Epigraph
  7. 1
  8. 2
  9. 3
  10. 4
  11. 5
  12. 6
  13. 7
  14. 8
  15. 9
  16. 10
  17. 11
  18. 12
  19. 13
  20. 14
  21. 15
  22. 16
  23. 17
  24. 18
  25. 19
  26. 20
  27. 21
  28. 22
  29. 23
  30. 24
  31. 25
  32. 26
  33. 27
  34. 28
  35. 29
  36. 30
  37. 31
  38. 32
  39. 33
  40. 34
  41. 35
  42. 36
  43. 37
  44. 38
  45. 39
  46. 40
  47. 41
  48. About Barbara Ewing
  49. Also by Barbara Ewing
  50. An Invitation from the Publisher
  51. Copyright

Emmy Lou, in particular, shone. Her character Alice, although not the biggest part in the play, somehow almost at once became the pivot around which the action happened. She sat folding her newspapers, with her tongue out in total concentration, flicking her eyes from side to side, sometimes humming totally incongruously, ‘In My Sweet Little Alice Blue Gown’ from her childhood. Emmy Lou found some of the scenes unbearably moving, admired very much what the dreaded Eurydice had written: the journey of the characters from real recognisable people with families and jobs and loved ones, to people on the street. Alice had been a trainee teacher but had had a breakdown and lost not only her job but her fiancé who had found it all too hard to deal with. He had asked the sick woman for his ring back, on a postcard, so that other people saw the cruel message, everybody knew, Alice kept saying, I had no privacy for my pain, everybody knew.

Emmy fell into bed at night exhausted, hardly ever dreamed anxious dreams like she often did (if she did dream she dreamed of Alice and not herself), jumped up as soon as the alarm went off, did fitness and voice exercises, as always. She had to travel on the tube in the rush hour: she didn’t care. They often didn’t stop for a proper lunch break: she didn’t care. She overheard Pamela Angel and Colin discussing the fact that the National Theatre was showing interest in the play and her heart almost burst in joy and anticipation.

*

She told Frances a little of all this on the phone on Saturday night: a week ago I was at the garden party and not working and now I’m happier than I’ve been for years.

Frances in exchange told her of the mysterious Swiss businessman Milton Werner.

‘We’re going to the theatre tonight,’ said Frances, ‘he got tickets for Maggie Smith, we’ve already been out to dinner, he just phoned me suddenly last night, said he’d booked a restaurant, and we went to the Greenhouse, he even said he’d like to drive to Stratford next week to see Anthony in Othello.’

‘Are you sleeping with him?’ said Emmy Lou, to the point.